Nekochan Net

I haven't used the terminal/console to boot, but was wondering if maybe the O2 with RM7900 CPU gives any indications as to the problem during post.

BTW I tried the jumpstart jumper and took note of the differences, I don't know if it backs up to the previous installed/successful PROM version, but all of the environment settings were back to the previous settings. The versions were the same in both cases. When I get a copy of later than 6.5.18 which goes to PROM version 4.18 I might test to see if the Jumpstart jumper takes it back to 4.17.

Glenn

Joe,

What's the latest with LACE Technology and their possible O2 upgrade service? Do they have an O2 for testing yet?

On a related note, I wonder if WXC would be interested in buying some upgraded modules to lease to its LiveLine Genesis (TV weather graphics) customers. My two local TV stations both use O2s (R5K/200 I believe) for their weather maps and animations. Most of the graphics are pre-rendered before the news, but the render process takes a long time and bogs down the machine. One of the stations would like to upgrade to the next better system (Octane at the time I talked to them, probably Fuel now) but can't afford the difference in price.

WXC is in the process of moving to PCs, but have a huge installed base of O2 (also some Indigo2 IMPACT and Octane) users. Their prices, from what I understand, are similar to that of Discreet... the software is so expensive that the hardware doesn't add much to the bottom line.

Hmmm,

nothing happened within this thread for some time so I'd like to know the current state:

- Upgrade to 600mhz ... can somebody tell me about the price ?
- Upgrade to higher clocks ... is anybody (joe) still on the track or is the problem simply not solvable ?

Regards

Matthias

_________________
Life is what happens while we are making other plans

Brombear Wrote


Hi All,

I have not had much luck with the RM7900 chips on the O2 CPU
board. It looks that the RM7900 family of chips are no way
near as command compatable with the RM7000A/C family as PMC-
Sierra had led me to believe. The 7900 is pin compatable but
is going to take some serious ip32prom program modification
to get the O2 (and IRIX) to read the contents of the chip
registers and understand their data. I'm not sure if this can
even be done without the ip32prom code and I don't know how
willing SGI would be to make that code available to us. If anyone has any "special"
pull with SGI or maybe we could start a letter writing campaign to SGI to get the
ip32prom source code, then we could get this project back on track.

I have one new (unsoldered) RM7900-833MHz CPU chip left, I was
planning to offer it for $100 if someone (with more
programming knowledge than I have) wanted to give making this
work a try.

I have also been talking with PMC-Sierra about the RM7000C chip at speeds
beyond 600Mhz, it would be nice to see it at 700 or 800MHz. A few letters or
emails to PMC-Sierra might help this along as well.
http://www.pmc-sierra.com/contactSales/

The way Greg Smith at LACE Tech. and I talked about handling
the O2 upgrades is that I would supply the RM7000C-600MHz CPU
chip, a programmed PROM chip and test the upgraded CPU board.
The cost for the chips and testing would be $200US and the
cost for the change of the CPU chip at LACE would be $150US.
For people outside the US, I will send the chips directly to
Greg to save the time and cost of two extra shipments. You
would pay me the $200US for the chips and testing and LACE
the $150US plus shipping for the chip replacement and return
of the CPU board. You must contact Greg Smith at LACE before
you ship the CPU board so he knows to expect it and he can
arrange and calculate the cost for shipping and give you a proper
quote for his services.
Greg Smith
LACE Technologies
3483 Swenson Ave.
St. Charles, IL 60174
USA
Telephone (630)762-3865
mailto:greg@leadfreeassembly.com

I have been working on modding O2 R10/12K and Octane CPU
boards with 4 and 8Meg of L2 cache. I have found which
bootmode resistors on both boards define the amount of L2
cache and have found a source of 4 and 3nS NOS cache chips at
about $20 to $25 each. I have ordered a box of cache chips
and plan to mod a couple of CPU boards over the next couple
of weeks to test my theory. There is an eBay seller, nelscon,
with what seems like an unending supply of R12KA 400MHz O2
CPU modules going for about $350 each, I'm thinking one of these
overclocked to 450MHz with 8M of L2 cache might even be
faster than the 600MHz R7000C system. I'll let the group know how
the cache mods go.

Joe

Now THAT is a comprehensive answer

Thanx for the letting the community hear about all that developments. With these facts it is possible to think about decisions.

Thanx

Matthias

_________________
Life is what happens while we are making other plans

good tip, thanks!

Hi, Chicago-Joe!;
Another really cool upgrade way, no doubt!!!
...I'm wondering how much Frames Per Second, on a time-locked synchronized programming thread could be obtained on an O2 with such upgrade...

Maybe IrixDivX and Mplayer could give us an aproximated benchmarking, considering a full-size/full-rate MPEG-2 video stream. I'm anxious to see any related numbers!
Good luck with the project; please post news!
Diego

_________________
Oh!, let me write that!


Octane / Dual Head

http://twitter.com/GeekTronixShop

Hi All,

Several people have ask if the "older" version of RM5271-300MHz O2 CPU boards can be modded up to 600MHz.



I have modded 4 of this earlier rev of board and the mod and the performance are the same as for the later rev of the board. (which can be seen here) http://users.rcn.com/joepage/rm7000_600.jpg

Joe

This is a little out of this topic, but the NPE-300 from Cisco 760x routers uses a r7000@262Mhz, I wonder if we could do the mod on these boards too.


Jason

What is the reason to run a 262Mhz processor when you can run a 600mhz one ? Or is the architecture of the r7k so fundamental better ?

Matthias

_________________
Life is what happens while we are making other plans

Got any pics of the cpu?

_________________
- Stonent -
The preceding post has been brought to you in Infinite Reality!

I'm guessing that he meant to speed up the router, not slow down the O2

Ah, I should read more thoroughly But maybe its better to start a fresh thread for it, this one seems more than long enough already

Matthias

_________________
Life is what happens while we are making other plans

Hi All,

I received news from Greg Smith that he is leaving LACE Technologies and the owner does NOT want to take any more BGA replacement jobs. LACE is changing its focus to much larger overseas customers as they don't make much money on the BGA chip replacement business. I have contacted a couple of more specialized PCB repair shops to find someone to do high quality BGA rework at a reasonable price with a guarantee of their work. I will post a shop name and contact as soon as I have one.

So, as of today (08/12/04), please DO NOT contact Greg Smith at LACE Technologies about reworking your O2 CPU boards.

Joe

Chicago-Joe's PDF mentioned great reliability on the RM7000C upgrade.

How many other people have had this operation done, and has it been rock solid? Can you pass all diagnostics and work under load perfectly for extended lengths of time?